Schuyler's Sweets
by BuddyIsNotADog'sName
Summary: The Schuyler sisters own a bakery-but it's falling apart. Business is slow, and they are in constant competition with big-name brands. Romance, drama, and many, many cats follow them on their journey to success! My first story-hope you enjoy! Rated K for now, but I might change it later.
1. Chapter 1--Eliza's Cake

**Hey friends!**

 **PAIRINGS: Hamliza, Jangelica, Leggy (SOMEONE MAKE A BETTER SHIP NAME FOR LAF X PEGGY)**

 **Enjoy!**

"Ah-" Eliza yelped. She shoved her arms up to stop the falling shelf. She and her sisters ran a bakery, but it was falling apart-business was slow, and always had been for them.

"You okay Eliza?" her sister Angelica called.

"I'm fine." Eliza hefted the shelf back in place. She left the storage room and headed into the little dining area.

"Hey, Eliza." Angelica greeted. She was sweeping the floor.

"Hello. Where's Peg?" Eliza asked.

"In the kitchen, I think. She's repairing stuff." Angelica sighed. "If this bakery doesn't take off soon, we're gonna be in trouble."

Angelica was their financial manager/cashier, Eliza was the baker, and their younger sister, Peggy, handled the maintenance.

"Yeah...I just don't get it! What's wrong with our bakery?" Eliza kicked an imaginary pebble.

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud chorus of some lunatics bellowing the happy birthday song at the top of their lungs.

Suddenly the door slammed open.

"YO! We need like, a LOT of cake!" a short man with long curly hair and freckles yelled.

"O-okay, you'll have to wait a while." Eliza replied, somewhat intimidated by his over-the-top extrovertedness.

"THAT'S COOL! C'MON GUYS, CAKE'S ON ITS WAY!" the man yelled out the door. All Eliza could think was, 'Great. There's MORE of them.'

"What kind of cake do you want?" Angelica asked him. Eliza was impressed by how cool she was staying.

"Uh...CHOCOLATE!" he yelled.

Eliza quickly disappeared into the kitchen to make the cake.

"Hey Peg." she greeted her little sister.

"Oh, hi Eliza." Peggy responded. Peggy looked to be fixing ANOTHER shelf. She wore a bandana on her head, with her hair tied back in a messy ponytail.

"We've got a couple of bozos out there. They want 'like, a LOT of cake!'" Eliza imitated the curly haired guy.

"Great. Angelica's probably dying out there. I'm gonna go help her out." Peggy removed her bandana, tied it around her wrist, and exited the room.

Eliza set to work on the cake. She made the biggest one she could, frosted it, and carried it out on a large tray, which she set on the table.

"WHOA! THAT'S AN AWESOME CAKE!" the curly haired guy yelled.

"You're welcome. Would you like birthday candles, too?" Eliza asked politely.

"Yes, please. Sorry about my friend here-he tends to get excited easily." a different guy apologized. His voice had a heavy French accent. Just like the first guy, he had curly hair, but he was super tall, with no freckles.

Eliza headed back to the kitchen, grabbed some birthday candles, and put them on the cake. Peggy pulled out a lighter-apparently, she'd gotten one ready while Eliza was gone-and lit the candles.

"YAY! MAKE A WISH, ALEX!" the first guy declared.

"C'mon, Laurens-I'm not three." another one, probably named Alex, protested.

"What's wrong with the occasional tradition?" a fourth and final one replied. This one wore a beanie.

"Fineeeee." Alex rolled his eyes.

"OH! WAIT!" the first guy, a.k.a. Laurens, yelled.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

"HAPPY BIIIIIIIRTHDAY DEAR ALEXANDER!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" the three who weren't Alex sang.

Eliza couldn't help but clap after this epic performance, and she noticed her sisters clapping too as Alex blew out the candles.

"Excuse moi-could we get some help cutting the cake?" the guy with the French accent said.

"Sure, I'll be right back." Eliza headed back into the kitchen and grabbed some dental floss. When she got back, the group looked at her in confusion.

"Where's the knife?" beanie guy asked.

"OMG! IS THAT FLOSS?" Laurens yelled.

"Just watch." Eliza stretched out the floss and used it to cut the cake. The cutting lines were far straighter than any knife could've cut.

"Impressive." French guy said.

"WHOA." Alex gasped.

"If there's anything else you need, please don't hesitate to ask!" Eliza gave a small bow and left them to eat their cake.

Angelica walked over.

"Excuse me, that'll be thirty dollars-" she began.

"WHAT? THIRTY FREAKING DOLLARS? THAT'S IT? THIS CAKE IS WORTH LIKE FIFTY!" Laurens yelled.

"Umm, the price is thirty dollars." Angelica repeated.

Laurens dug around in his pocket. He handed her fifty bucks.

"Keep the change." he said, and returned to eating the cake.

Angelica walked back to the counter, flustered.

"Well, we got fifty bucks instead of thirty." she murmured to her sisters.

"What? We gotta repay him SOMEHOW." Peggy replied.

"How about a coupon?" Eliza asked. "We could give him a coupon for our bakery."

"Yeah, that works. We'll see if he'll accept it." Angelica picked up a coupon from behind the counter and headed back to the table.

"Sir, if you're going to give us twenty extra dollars, the least we could do is give you a coupon." Angelica held the slip of paper out to him.

"No, itf fine." Laurens replied, his mouth full.

"I insist." Angelica thrust it out.

"Okay fine. I guess I could put this to good use...I'll be back here tomorrow! And the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after-"

"Laurens, I think she gets the point." Alex rolled his eyes.

"Hrmph." Laurens took the coupon from Angelica's hand, and continued eating his cake.


	2. Chapter 2--Angelica's Coffee

**Soooooo...**

 **We got fluff.**

 **I REGRET NOTHIIIIIIING!**

Angelica sat behind the register, drinking ice water while drinking the newspaper. She wished she had coffee, but alas, the bakery's budget was tight and didn't have room for coffee. Her sisters were in back, repairing the shelves and cleaning the floors, as usual. Angelica was lucky to have them-they understood that their sister was upset in the mornings without coffee.

She was about to take a giant gulp of water-when the door swung open.

Angelica was so startled that she dropped the water, and it spilled all over her clothes.

"I'm baaaack!" Great. It was that bozo Laurens from yesterday. "Oh, did I startle you? Sorry about that..." Laurens looked guilty.

"It's okay, don't worry. At least it wasn't coffee!" Angelica joked.

"Yeah...wait, why AREN'T you drinking coffee?" Laurens asked.

"Well...we can't exactly afford coffee. We're on a tight budget, y'see-"

"NO COFFEE? THAT'S RIDICULOUS! EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A RIGHT TO COFFEE!"

"Umm, well, we don't have the right to coffee, apparently."

"Ugggh. Anyway, can I have a chocolate muffin, please?" Laurens asked.

"Sure." Angelica pulled a muffin from the glass display case where all the pastries sat. "Here you go, that'll be three dollars-"

"WHAT? That's ridiculously cheap! It must be five bucks, at least!" Laurens cried. He put a five dollar bill and the coupon from yesterday on the counter.

"If you insist on paying five dollars, the coupon takes off two. So it's still three dollars." Angelica replied. She gave him two dollars in change.

"Keep it." Laurens said.

"What? What was the point in using the coupon, then?"

"What's the point in owning a bakery if the prices are ridiculously low?" Laurens shot back.

"I-" Angelica thought for a moment. It pained her to admit it, but Laurens was right. She'd been so concerned with overpricing that she hadn't even thought about underpricing. "Okay. You're right. I've been underpricing this stuff way too much." she sighed. "I guess I'll mark up the prices then."

"Atta girl! I'm gonna go get some coffee-wanna join me?" Laurens offered.

"W-what? But I couldn't...I can't leave the bakery. My sisters are working so hard-I can't just leave." Angelica shook her head at the thought.

"Okay. What kind of coffee DO you like, anyway?" Laurens asked.

"Any and all kinds of mocha. With cream, of course." Angelica replied. It was then she noticed that her shirt was still wet. "Well, I gotta go change. Thanks for stopping by." she waved goodbye to Laurens and headed to the small restroom in back to put on dry clothes-Angelica always came prepared to work, with at least two extra outfits.

When she left the bathroom and returned to her post at the counter, Angelica spotted a large paper cup with a sleeve and a lid. There was a sticky note next to it. It said:

"Hey! I went and got you a mocha, cuz everyone deserves the right to coffee!

-Laurens"

Suddenly, Angelica felt a lot better about that morning.

 **Kicking in the Jangelica-I think this ship deserves some love!**


	3. Chapter 3--Peggy's Idea

**Yay, another chapter!**

 **R+R!**

Peggy took a deep breath.

"Guys, I have an idea. An idea that might save our bakery." she announced.

"I'm listening." Angelica raised a brow. Eliza watched earnestly.

"It'll be pricey, but it will increase our popularity tremendously. What if we turned the bakery-" Peggy paused for suspense-"Into a cat cafe."

Her sisters were silent for a moment. Peggy got nervous for a second.

"Peggy, you're a genius." Angelica finally said.

"Yeah! Let's see. We can put all the litter boxes into that closet over there-that way customers don't have to smell it. Food and water bowls can go over on that wall...we can set up a bunch of cat toys and towers all over..." Peggy could almost see the gears in Eliza's mind turning as she imagined the new setup.

"But," Angelica began, "like you said, it'll be pricey. Very pricey. We're going to need a lot more money than what we have now. So, we have to mark up the prices a little." she sighed.

"Okay. Eliza, can you do some cleaning? I'll head back to the storage room and fix the cabinets and shelves and whatever else needs fixing. Angelica, we're gonna need you to handle our financial situation. Set aside the ingredients money and tax money, and we'll see how much we have left for cat stuff." Peggy directed. Despite being the youngest sister, she was a natural leader. Her sisters often told her she had a fiery spirit, which Peggy had always taken pride in.

Immediately, Angelica and Eliza set to work, and Peggy headed off to do the same.

For about two hours, she hung out in the storage room, fixing fallen shelves and patching up holes in cabinets. Eventually, Peggy ran out of repairs, and started organizing ingredients, putting labels on cabinets. Then she started dusting off spiderwebs. Then she started cleaning the floors. Until at last, Angelica called all of them to the front.

"Okay, I've figured it out. We have sixty extra dollars to spend on cat stuff." Angelica announced.

"Hey, that's pretty good!" Eliza cheered.

"Yep." Peggy agreed.

"Okay, Peggy, can you run down to the pet store and buy cat supplies?" Angelica asked.

"Yeah, sure." Peggy shrugged.

"Okay, here you go." Angelica handed Peggy the sixty dollars.

"Bye!" Peggy waved goodbye, and headed for the nearest pet store.

"PLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAASE Laf? Pretty PLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAASE let me get a turtle for free?" Peggy turned and recognized the screaming bozo-Laurens, was it?- who gave them fifty bucks. He seemed to be talking to his French companion.

"No, sorry, we can't do that." the French guy replied.

"Aww, PLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAASE?" Laurens begged.

"No."

"PLZPLZPLZPLZPLZPLZPLZPLZPLEEEEEEEEEASE?"

"No."

"Aww, come o-"

"No."

Laurens walked off in a huff. Peggy approached the French guy.

"Excuse me, do you work here?" she asked.

"Oui, how can I help you?" he replied.

"Um, I'm looking for the cat supplies." Peggy said.

"Right this way, Madame." he led Peggy down a couple aisles, took a few turns, and they eventually arrived at the cat stuff. "So, what are you looking for?" he asked.

"Uh, whatever I can buy with sixty bucks that I need to take care of a cat." Peggy replied.

"Okay, then you need a litter box," the guy placed a litter box into Peggy's cart, "some cat toys," he added a couple of toys, "and litter. If you're not getting a cat today, you won't need food. Also, my tips would be to use regular bowls for food and water, and you can build your own cat towers easily for cheaper." he explained.

"Okay, thanks so much!" Peggy turned and headed for the register. She checked out, and returned to the bakery.

 **Yeah, the ending wasn't so great...**

 **What should happen next chapter? I have no clue (the cats will be coming, hopefully the one after next)**

 **Let me know what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4--New Ownership

**So, this is a short one.**

 **But it's King George!**

"Guys, we got a notice. Apparently, we have a new landlord." Eliza stared at the slip of paper in her hands.

"Wait, what?" Peggy looked at her like she had just grown a second head.

"We have a new landlord." Eliza repeated. "It says his name's George, and that's about it."

"Hey, I've got an idea! We need to get on good terms with this new landlord, right?" Angelica asked.

Peggy and Eliza both nodded.

"Okay, so how about we make him something? Like a cake." Angelica suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea-I'll get started right now!" Eliza whisked herself off to the kitchen.

When she was done, she carried the cake out to the front.

"So, who wants to deliver it...?" she asked.

No one answered.

Eliza sighed. "I'm on it."

So, she carried the cake all the way to the new landlord's office. She knocked on the door.

"Hello, sir, my sisters and I run the bakery you bought, and we just made you a welc-" Eliza began.

"OH, the pie's here! Thank you, here's the thousand dollars I owe you, waitress girl! Bye!" with that, the man who was supposed to be their new landlord turned and slammed the door shut.

Eliza was left in shock, holding a wad of cash-a thousand dollars, to be exact.

Flustered, she walked back to the bakery.

"Uhhh, hiiii guys." she said slowly.

"Hey, Eliza! Did he like it?" Peggy asked.

"Um, yeah, but..." Eliza explained how George had confused the cake for a pie that he had ordered and paid her a thousand dollars for it.

"Um." Angelica managed to say.

"I think our landlord is insane." Peggy grumbled.

"Yeah...but on the bright side, we have a thousand bucks now! ...Right?" Eliza was trying to look at the positives.

"Uh, yeah! You're right! Now we can get c-" Peggy started.

"COFFEE. WE CAN GET COFFEE." Angelica slammed her fist on the countertop.

"And cats, right?" Peggy piped up.

"Yes, Peggy. And cats." Eliza replied.

 **Yeah.**

 **I promise you, King George will get more insane later-**

 **This was only the beginning ;)**


	5. Chapter 5--Coffee and Cats

"How can I help you, ma'am?" the shelter employee asked. Angelica was about to adopt three cats for the bakery.

"Um, can I have some help? I'm planning on adopting... Kitty, Philip, and Steph." Angelica had done some research the night before, and picked out three cats.

"Okay, come with me." the employee led her to a room, where she met all three of them. Kitty reminded her of Eliza-she was friendly, but only after Philip had gone and been the first one to check out Angelica. Steph scampered closely after Kitty, in a futile attempt to not be the last one. Overall, Angelica found herself falling in love with all of them.

"Okay, here are the adoption papers. We need you to fill all of those out." the employee handed Angelica a giant stack of paper. When she finished, the employee put the cats into three little carriers, gave Angelica a bunch of cat food, and sent her on her way.

"Guys, I'm back!" Angelica announced.

"Ooh, did you get the cats?" Peggy asked

"You betcha. This is Philip, Kitty, and Steph." Angelica handed the carriers to Peggy. "I'm gonna go grab the coffee pot." Angelica headed back to the car and picked up the pot, along with a bunch of coffee and cocoa powder she had gotten on the way to the shelter. When she went back into the bakery, her sisters were already obsessing over the cats.

"Awwww, they're so cute!" Peggy squealed.

"I think Philip's my favorite." Eliza declared, stroking Philip's head.

"Well, I like Steph." Peggy replied, scritching his ears. Personally, Angelica liked Kitty, but she had only one true love.

And it couldn't wait any longer.

Angelica Schuyler was finally going to get coffee.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The next morning, Angelica sat at her post behind the counter, in an unusually cheerful mood, thanks to coffee. Not only that, but Kitty was seated on the counter next to her.

As usual, the door swung open."'Ey, Angelica!" It was-as usual-Laurens, the one and only regular customer. "Aw, who's this?" he asked, as Philip came scampering over to say hi.

"That's Philip. We're officially a cat cafe now." Angelica replied, giving Kitty a pat on the head.

"Cool! It also looks like ya got coffee...did you earn a thousand bucks or something?" Laurens joked.

"Um, kind of..." Angelica explained the whole George situation.

"Oh." Laurens' face filled with worry. "He's...watch out for him, Angelica. That guy's...unstable."

Now Angelica really was worried-Laurens was always so cheerful and energetic. If their new landlord could make him suddenly turn that somber, well...

He clearly was someone to watch out for.


	6. Chapter 6--A Brand New Start

**So this one took a while...**

 **Sorry :/**

 **But I like the way it turned out!**

 **Enjoy, as always :)**

Peggy was cleaning tables.

It was the most boring job in the bakery.

And of course it was her turn today.

At least she had company-Steph, the smallest cat, was perched on her shoulder. He seemed to enjoy doing that, and Peggy didn't complain.

"Angelicaaaaaa!" The door swung open, and Laurens (who would forever be known as the "screaming bozo" in Peggy's mind) sauntered in, trailed by his friends. Usually, Laurens came in the morning, alone. Apparently today wasn't usual-it was the middle of the afternoon, and he clearly wasn't alone.

"How can I help you?" Angelica asked. She was at the register, as usual.

"We need FOOD!" Laurens yelled.

"Obviously-you came to a cafe. What kind of food?" Angelica rolled her eyes habitually.

"Got any coffee desserts?" The one Peggy recognized as Alex spoke up.

"I WANT BREAD!" the beanie guy demanded.

"...Do you sell croissants?" the French guy asked.

"I WANT EVERYTHING!" Laurens yelled.

"Okay. Tiramisu, an assorted bread plate, croissants, and a little bit of everything?" Angelica offered.

"YES!" All four of them agreed.

"Okay, feel free to seat yourselves while I get your orders. And enjoy the cats' company, but be respectful of their boundaries." Angelica gave them the whole spiel about being nice to the cats and blah blah blah.

Eventually, the four of them sat down at a table Peggy'd scrubbed a while ago. Angelica headed off to the back to give Eliza the orders.

"HEY! Table-cleaner girl!" Peggy twirled around to see who had addressed her. It was the beanie guy. "Did it hurt?" he asked.

"Did what hurt?" Peggy asked. She already knew where this was going.

"When you fell from heaven?" Yep, there it was. Laurens burst into a fit of giggles, and Alex snickered. The French guy looked like he'd rather be anywhere else.

"...Did you just call me Satan?" Peggy responded simply.

Laurens and Alex were both full on hysterical now. Even French guy turned away, with a small smile on his face.

"Well-that's-I mean, that's not how it was meant-"

"But that's how I heard it. Context is everything, sir." Peggy turned and continued scrubbing tables.

Suddenly, Angelica burst through the door to the back, trays in hand.

"Two things. One, here is your food. Two, please don't flirt with the staff." Angelica scolded sternly, placing the trays on the table.

"Aww, but Angelicaaaaaa!" Laurens protested.

"No buts." Angelica shook her head.

Looking at them side-by-side, Peggy could actually see the height difference between Angelica and Laurens. To her surprise, Laurens was a few inches shorter. Seeing him getting scolded by her older sister reminded Peggy of a naughty little kid.

"Anyway, is that all?" Angelica asked.

"Yes, thank you. How much?" The one Peggy remembered as Alex asked, digging around in his pocket.

While Angelica told him the price, Peggy surveyed the group. There was Laurens, of course-the screaming bozo. Then there was Alex, who, like Angelica, seemed to be a coffeeholic. Beanie guy was the flirt, it seemed, and the French guy? Peggy wasn't quite sure about him yet. He seemed interesting, though...

Peggy's thought process was interrupted by Eliza storming into the dining room. Philip trailed behind her.

"Angelica!" she cried. "Look at this!" Eliza thrust a document into Angelica's hands.

"...What. The. Heck." Angelica stared at the paper, speechless.

"What?" Peggy peered over Angelica's shoulder at the paper.

"It's George-the new landlord! He's asking for a ridiculously high rent because we have coffee! He's taxing coffee! This is outrageous!" Eliza was rambling again.

"Wait, George's causing problems for you guys, too?" Alex piped up. "Laurens and I have a coffee shop, and George owns that too-you wouldn't believe the rent!"

"Told you he was someone to look out for..." Laurens mumbled.

"We can't afford this-we'll be broke within months if this keeps up." Angelica sighed. "Guess we're back to square one."

"Nooooo! If you guys go out of business, I won't have anywhere to go for breakfast!" Laurens cried.

"Well, we might have to, unless, I dunno, we could cut the rent in half." Eliza groaned.

"Wait, that gives me an idea-" Peggy started.

"Yeah, but that's impossible, isn't it." Angelica sighed.

"Guys-" Peggy was cut off again.

"If only we could-"

"GUYS!" Peggy yelled. Steph was startled off her shoulder.

"What?" Eliza asked.

"What if we shared the space with a different business? That way, the rent would be cut in half for both of us." Peggy suggested.

"Peggy, you're a genius! But wait. What would we merge it with?" Angelica began to think.

"That's the problem. I don't know." Peggy said sheepishly.

"OH! What if you merged with our coffee shop?" Laurens suggested.

"Really?" Angelica and Alex both asked at once.

"I mean...why not? We um...we're literally right next door, and we both have food and stuff..." Laurens trailed off. Somehow, the extroverted, screaming bozo Laurens looked a little awkward.

"Actually, it's not a bad idea." Alex said finally. "I mean...yeah, this could work."

"Uh-huh...all we'd need to do is move stuff..." Angelica mused.

"So, at least we'll try?" Laurens asked.

"...Deal."

 **Yes, King George is getting more crazy.**

 **Well, we'll see how it goes.**


End file.
